The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League The Formula 2015 Edition Walter H. Hunt All 24 Teams Analyzed Robert Jordan Using the T.Q. System Mark H. Bloom The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League by Walter H. Hunt Robert Jordan Mark H. Bloom with contributions from TBL’s managers and extra help from: Eric Sheffler Paul Harrington Jim Dietz Copyright © 2015 Walter H. Hunt, except “The Faith of Job” and “Ernie Banks”, which are copyright © 2015, Jim Dietz. This book was produced using a Macintosh with Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop CS4. I can be reached by mail at 3306 Maplebrook Road, Bellingham, MA 02019 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The 2015 TBL Annual 3 the TBL baseball annual Welcome to the 2015 TBL Baseball Annual. This is the twentieth year of the Annual in the book format. We’re happy to welcome the Vegas Line back to the book, along with an article from our returning manager Eric Sheffler. It’s hard to believe that the editorial team has been at this for this long, but it’s hard to argue with documentary evidence. This year Robert Jordan re-joins our merry band with his usual skill and humor. We’ve approached the ideas of team-building from all sorts of angles, but this year we’re taking a look at the “secret formula” that teams have used over the years to grab the brass ring. Our regular features are back as well, giving our insights into past, present and future. We hope you enjoy our work, and TBL’s new season. Walter, Mark May, 2015 The T.Q. System Shamelessly stolen from the Mazeroski annual, the T.Q. System assigns points to each area of the team’s expected performance and totals the result. The maximum score under the T.Q. System is 50, divided as follows: Pitching: 20 points Offense: 17 points Defense: 8 points Bench: 5 points The T.Q. System does not take age or prospect value into account, only present capability. It does, however, consider usage (available games, at bats and innings). 4 The 2015 TBL Annual table of contents FRONT MATTER The Winning Formula Bob Jordan 6 SNTs 9 Future Drafts 10 TQ Summary 11 Manager Roll Call 12 2015 Computer Pre-Play Clay Beard 13 Hall of Fame: Enshrinee 2015 14 Hall of Fame: For Your Consideration 15 Statesmen Return to The: Will Winning Follow? Eric Sheffler 16 The Vegas Line Paul Harrington 18 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Clemente Division Giant Expectations 20 Warrenton 22 Whitman 26 Blue Hill 30 Columbus 34 Mays Division Fifteen Guys 38 Gotham City 40 Grand Cayman 44 Rye 48 Greater Ohio 52 Ruth Division Not According To Plan 56 Brobdingnag 58 Detroit 62 Detroit 66 New Westminster 70 2014 World Series Report 74 NATIONAL CONFERENCE Aaron Division Welcome Back 76 Statesmen 78 Northboro 82 Maracaibo 86 Kansas 90 Mantle Division Pay Per View 94 Munich 96 Melrose 100 Zion 104 Hudson 108 Williams Division Outlaw Overkill 112 Knoxville 114 Taylorville 118 Midwest 122 Las Vegas 126 FINAL WORDS Breakthrough 130 Future 131 Editorial 132 The Vegas Line Paul Harrington 133 The Faith of Job Jim Dietz 134 In Memoriam 135 The 2015 TBL Annual 5 the winning formula by Bob Jordan Welcome to the 2015 TBL Baseball Annual! The the league proceedings for Red Sox starting rotation is a mess, the snow decades, has stepped in as our from our month long February snow storm is new Commissioner of Vice. He almost, but not quite, melted away, and the will be awarded a truly mini- Annual staff is once again braving the ire of our mal minimum wage, a 0% 401K match and self- wives and employers to pound out this - the fin- funded health care plan for his efforts. est APBA retrospective in the galaxy. We are so good that major universities are studying these Congratulations as well are due to the techno- pages to uncover the formula for our secret wizard that is Steve Stein, who runs our league sauce. Spring is here, and we are looking forward draft, builds our incredible statistics archive, to a spectacular 2015 season – TBL’s 34th year! fixes our rosters, and still finds time to correct my numerous mental errors as co-owner of the In this volume, we look back at the 2014 TBL Northboro Phoenix. He receives help and assis- Champion Brobdingnag Barbarians. The merci- tance from Hall of Famer Clay Beard, who runs less Joseph Auletta fielded a real road grader our waiver draft and provides other services. in 2014 – a spectacular 122-win regular season that was almost derailed by Darrell Skogen’s Lastly but never leastly, thanks go once again to Midwest team that simply refused to lose in the the unstoppable Walter Hunt, without whose 2014 World Series. efforts we would have nothing but back issues of the Annual to keep us up at night. This year, Also included here are our usual mind-expanding Walter took it to yet another level and got an predictions, pinpoint analysis, and pithy commen- honest-to-Pete-I-get-paid-for-this job! The tary that Annual fans have come to expect. And Worshipful One is now the librarian of the several of our excellent brotherhood have contrib- Massachusetts Grand Lodge. So my handy uted their wisdom and foresight to these pages as excuse for not getting my articles done (“…but I well. have to work…”) isn’t gonna fly anymore. Thanks, and more thanks Not All Those Who Wander are Lost Keeping an informal league running for over Some departures are harder than others. This three decades requires the efforts of many, so let’s year, the Annual bids adieu to a great friend and kick this party off by acknowledging that many a great APBA manager – Ray Murphy. Ray joined have contributed to our success. Congratulations TBL in 1992, won the 2006 TBL Championship, to Paul Harrington on surviving his first year as and was our League Commissioner for five TBL commissioner. Paul smoothly took the reins years. The reason this league has lasted for 34 in 2014, and guided this ship past all the sand bars years is that we have always had intelligent, and rocky shoals normally encountered in a long humorous, deeply knowledgeable and fair mind- season. His decisiveness and good humor served ed gentlemen like Mr. Murphy in our midst. It us well, and his insistence on working for nothing has been a privilege to be part of an organization is much appreciated by the league bean counters. that includes you, Raymond, and I know I speak for the whole league when I wish you good The TBL Brass has new blood this year. Steve health, good fortune, and every blessing for your Powell, who has been a steadying influence on young and growing family. You will be missed. 6 The 2015 TBL Annual Ray doubles down on his departure by taking his finished an unspectacular 7th in the league in partner Jon Brinkmann with him. Jon has been ERA. Gotham City rolled to the World Series in in and out of the league for a couple of decades, 2007 with the #1 offense in the league (938 runs and was the longtime owner of the Mahopac scored) and solid pitching (3.83 team ERA, good Stogies. He will be missed as well. for 4th in the league). They lost a death match to Munich in seven games that year. Stepping into all four of those big shoes is another old friend. Eric Sheffler is now the happy inheritor Some teams that win are Anacondas. These of the Portland Possum franchise. He has renamed teams suffocate their opponents with lock-down the team The Statesmen. We welcome Eric back pitching. Offense? Your mileage may vary. The after a short twenty year absence – he was last gold standard for this type of club is Midwest’s with us during the 1995 season. 2009 TBL championship team. Darrel finished 3rd in team ERA (3.34), second in WHIP (1.12), The Formula first in fewest walks allowed, 3rd in fewest hits allowed. Meanwhile, the offense showed up long Baseball has changed a lot in the post-steroid era. enough to finish 12th in runs scored (782), 8th We have entered a new, brutal period marked in homers (177) and a yawn-inducing 17th in by bigger, better and disposable pitching, with doubles. Craig Musselman’s 2010 league cham- opportunistic offense taking the place of sheer, pionship team allowed only 576 runs in the regu- brute home run power. The formula in Real Ball lar season. They were 13th in the league in runs is to collect several arms that throw in the high scored, and 14th in hits. Pat Martin’s Knoxville 90s for the bullpen, and surround this group Outlaws, the team Joe Auletta beat in the 2008 with enough starting pitching to keep them fresh World Series was an anaconda – 14th in runs through the playoffs, and enough offense to win scored, 1st in team ERA (3.41). games but not break the bank on salary. The new normal is last year’s Kansas City Royals and Then, there are the Monsters. Monsters are charac- the San Francisco Giants teams of the last six terized by both overwhelming pitching and bone years. One critical element to winning an MLB crushing power. And they win. A lot. Examples World Series is to catch a pitcher that is on an all- of recent Monsters are Melrose in 2011 (123 wins), world streak (Madison Bumgarner last year, Koji Munich in 2007 (113 wins), and Brobdingnag in Uehara in 2013) and ride them to the title.